As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are often times implemented within a modular chassis. In such implementations, a modular chassis may be configured to receive a plurality of individual server sleds. Each server sled may be adapted to removably couple both mechanically and electronically to the chassis via an appropriate bay of the chassis (e.g., by sliding the sled in or out of the bay). Each sled may include one or more information handling systems and other information handling resources or electronically coupling the one or more information handling resources to other components of the chassis.
Traditional approaches to coupling information handling systems within a modular chassis to a communications network external to the chassis have many disadvantages. For example, some traditional approaches employ a switch external to the chassis to provide such connectivity. As another example, some traditional approaches employ a switch embedded in the chassis of a size that equals the maximum number of sleds or information handling systems that could ever be inserted. One disadvantages of these approaches is the tax on the chassis infrastructure if one is not using all of the ports from the external switch or one does not fully populate the chassis bays.